Promised Land

Let's get this out of the way up front: I'm about as anti-fracking as they come. You've heard of tree huggers? Well, I'm a bedrock hugger. So you'd think to me this movie would be 100% environmental porn. Surprisingly, on that level my reaction was somewhat meh. We'll get to that in the 4th paragraph, but let's talk about the movie on a strictly artistic/entertainment level first.

Excellent. Great acting, good thoughtful pace without becoming boring (in fact it's amazing how interesting they made a subject which puts most people to sleep), nice artistic cinematography, and a truly original story. The story is about a good guy "Steve" (Matt Damon) who works for the natural gas company intent on convincing small rural townsfolk to lease their land to them so they can drill. Steve believes he & his company are doing the right thing by bringing money to the depressed rural economy, a no brainer. But things get complicated when he encounters resistance from some townsfolk and a mysterious environmentalist who isn't exactly fighting fair.

If you caught the clever spin, you see that the film flips the character stereotypes on us. The big corporation is the honest protagonist while the anti-fracking whistleblower is the shady character. I really liked that novel approach. But here's how it sort of falls short regarding the social message it seeks to deliver....

The movie barely gets into the actual debate over fracking (which, in a nutshell, is the practice of "drilling" by shooting water & chemicals deep into the ground so it knocks stuff loose and brings it to the surface. Sorta like fishing by dumping Ajax into a pond so the fish jump up into your boat). While the movie does mention this in 1 scene, that scene was played a bit over the top, with the mystery environmentalist lighting a desk on fire and threatening to incinerate a turtle to make his point. In other words you might miss what he's saying as you are marveling at how absurd he looks. The rest of the movie handles the debate in a similarly oblique way, focusing more on the cat-and-mouse drama between Steve and the environmentalist rather than the actual talking points. In that respect, this film didn't necessarily have to be about fracking; it could've been about a poker game, or a beauty contest, or anything where the goal is to be more convincing than your opponent.

Ultimately, the showdown comes to a clever climax and resolution where a speech wraps things up for us, and if this were an 80s teencom it would certainly deserve a slow clap, but at the same time it may leave you wondering "so wait... uh why is fracking bad?"

If you already know, or if you don't really care, then no problem. Without a doubt the movie is entertaining and worth your time. But if you were expecting a compelling exposé of why fracking is bad, aside from its rather unfortunate name, then you may end up disappointed and/or running to Google to get an education.

Contrasting this movie against classics like "The China Syndrome" (nuclear power) or "The Towering Inferno" (unethical building practices) where we are shown exactly what can go wrong, "Promised Land" doesn't take us there. It just tells us, through innuendo, that we should be afraid of fracking. That was an incredible missed opportunity for an otherwise powerful film.

Its easy to see Promised Land just as the trailers promise.Namely as a film about the environmental hazards of drilling for natural gas using a process called fracking ( hydraulic fracturing), that is not as harmless as its made out to be, and placing this neatly in a decaying small town in the agricultural heartland of America. Promised Land works at that level too, but more importantly it is the study of its protagonist Steve Butler, played by Matt Damon.Matt Damon and his co writers John Krasinski and Dave Eggers, have written a role which is ostensibly a corporate salesman for big oil but could easily have been a Wall Street trader coming to terms with the troubling reality of the financial world.

Steve Butler is the study of a man seriously out of depth, he is doing a job that he thought he was good at, but suddenly his modus operandi seems childish and outdated.Matt Damon does not reveal his moral core throughout, he continues to wear the amour of his flannel shirts, that he buys to blend in, before he gets to the job of converting the townspeople to sell out their future.Perhaps he has risen to his level of incompetence, a classic example of the Peter Principle.But in the hands of Gus Van Sant its not just about professionalism.He befriends a charming single woman in a bar, in a town like this its a miracle she exists.He turns his charm on her just like he does with his audience. His favorite trick is walking upto the front yard of a house and asking the kid who may be playing there,"Are you the owner of this place?'When the confused kid says, "No", he asks,"Then how come you are doing all the hard work?".That's a slam dunk.

But Steve this time has competition, a man more handsome, more charming and apparently smarter arrives out of nowhere, with a bunch of damning photographs which graphically illustrate the nightmare that the residents are about to wreck on themselves.He not only steals the town but also the girl.How Steve will deal with this double whammy is the neat resolution of the film.The resolution exists because filmmaking is a costly enterprise, but as we learn through the course of this film, reality is far more complicated than that.

He has a partner, Sue, played by Frances McDormand, who is the perfect choice for this role.She is tough and business-like and we see her cringe more than once as Steve turns into a bigger and bigger wreck.She is a travelling hockey mom, her sons baseball game is her only silver lining.She manages to remain sane because of this emotional anchor which Steve does not have.The reality of the environment debate is complicated and it needs a scientist to decode, played here by Hal Holbrook, who is able to do a more comprehensive job of using Google to figure it all out.And yet as he and Steve concur,ultimately its all about our consumption pattern that we are not willing to discuss, let alone change.The sad eyes of Halbrook see no hope, only sparks of revolt, which he provides with his research to the residents.

We start off in Promised Land by looking at Jason Bourne and then forget all about him.Perhaps this is part of what Damon was aiming for, to become an actor again rather than a one man action movie franchise.He succeeds to a very large extent.Francis McDormand is surely an American national treasure and her performance here is reason enough to see this film.The cinematography is deliberately fuzzy but maybe the goal is to make a pretty landscape look ugly and grainy, photographing the lush landscape and its wonderful actors in sharp focus would have made it a pretty picture, detracting from its weary tone.

The oeuvre of Gus Van Sant is full of pieces that study the American landscape from an intimate leftwing lens.From Milk which looked at a gay rights activist to Elephant, which quietly observed the Columbine shootings with a docudrama approach, his films try to decode the American ethos. Along the way he makes brave choices like reshooting Psycho shot by shot, a decision for which he has been much vilified, but his reasons for doing so as a serious director were commendable.Cinema is better off with experiments like those, never mind if they fail, or don't make people happy.

Promised Land remarkably reminds one of Peter Bagdanovich's classic 1971 film The Last Picture Show in its study of the collapse of the American dream.That film perhaps sets the stage for this one, all the young people have gone away to the city and those that remain must make frightening life choices.Its easy to see the poverty struck town as a microcosm of America and the title as a commentary on the shattered "Great American Dream" (surprisingly not trademarked yet).Mr Van Sant delivers a richly textures film that neatly sidesteps the environment question and places individual choices at its centre.

Published on my blog mostlycinema.com

"Promised Land" is a movie for the present time in America. Natural gas, oil shale, oil and related explorations are becoming more common. The world's consumption of oil continues to leapfrog, as more and more one- time third world countries acquire some affluence. Energy prices continue to work their way up. Sources of natural energy that once were far too expensive to produce, now become economical. At the same times, many small farm communities continue to shrink, and most become poorer with few jobs and businesses to support the dwindling farm populations.

Into this setting, "Promised Land" gives us a story of two employees who move into a rural community to buy up the leases for natural gas exploration and possible production. It's a story about people doing their job in earnest, and about the people of a small town. The town is in rural Pennsylvania, but it could be anywhere in rural America. – as Matt Damon's character, Steve Butler says. And, the people of this community must weigh the promise of prosperity against unknown possible negative effects on their natural surroundings from drilling. There is an interesting twist in this story that comes out at the end.

The cast are all quite good. Besides Damon, Frances McDormand co-stars as his sidekick employee, Sue Thompson. John Krasinski is very smooth and believable as Dustin Noble. Rosemarie DeWitt plays Alice, the fifth- grade school teacher. Titus Welliver is Rob, the local guns and grocery story owner. Hal Holbrook, at 88 years of age, is the retired MIT scientist and volunteer high school teacher, Frank Yates. And, the many town folk who are extras add nicely to this story.

The scenic shots are something right out of Norman Rockwell's pastoral America. Damon and Krasinski wrote the screenplay for this film. They also co-produced it with director Gus Van Sant. The film moves at a steady pace that may be too slow for some people. Those who need the fast and furious frenzy of constant-action movies to get their adrenalin flowing are not likely to enjoy this film. But, for the rest of us, it's a nice story that the whole family can enjoy.

There have been plenty of actors to make the great leap from the small screen to big screen and with plenty of success, but it is my feeling that John Krasinski will be one of the few that becomes a powerhouse player in Hollywood. His latest effort, which he co-wrote with co-star Matt Damon and teamed up with Damon's friend and director of Damon's breakout film, Good Will Hunting, Gus Van Sant. Promised Land is one movie that you will be able to go back and pinpoint as turning point in Krasiniski's career and where Damon has gone from the player to the teacher.

This is the story of a big energy corporation looking to take the natural gas resources of a small farming town. The corporation's representatives played perfectly by Damon and Frances McDormand are sent in to find land to lease for areas for fracking a dangerous and controversial means of extracting the natural gas from miles under the ground. Soon a local school teacher and retired "genius" begins raising questions and has the town very much concerned and it raises to another level when a small environmental group comes to town with it's representative played by Krasinski. When he clearly has the town on his side Damon's small town roots and conscience begin eating away at him. Then the bottom falls out and only one is left standing.

Having made his mark on the sit-com, The Office, Kransinski has clearly proved he is more than just a smart funny character on a popular sit-com, he's now a true actor. His performance which begins very much playing into his comedy roots takes a quick and dramatic turn. There is no one better to walk Krasinski out of the office and into the Promised Land than Matt Damon. This being only second major screenplay, it is not unlikely that he could follow his co-stars footsteps and take home the golden statue on Oscar night (this would also give Damon his second writing Oscar).

With a nearly perfectly cast of supporting players from the perfectly placed Hal Holbrook to the always lovely Rosemarie DeWitt, Promised Land is a film that will have you feeling every emotion poured on the screen. With plenty of comedic moments to have you taken in early on, to the real emotions that can easily be identified with of the local towns folk.

The performance of the film that had my attention from the moment he appeared on screen was the legendary Hal Holbrook. His role as a man who loves his town and farm despite having had the opportunities escape, is one that you almost can't take your eyes off of. Holbrook has one Oscar nomination to his credit and it wasn't very long ago for the wonderful Into The Wild when he was a spry 83 years old. Now a perfectly aged 87 he might not only be looking at another well deserved nomination but he just may walk on that stage and take that coveted award in his hand and no doubt to an arousing applaud. www.loveyourmovies.com

Matt Damon, once again functioning in the dual role of scriptwriter and main actor, reengages with director Gus van Sant (previous joint ventures include "Gerry" and the Oscar-winning "Good Will Hunting") in search of another fruitful cooperative endeavour . Based on a concept written by Dave Eggers and co-scripted by co-star John Krasinski, "Promised Land" is an extremely competent piece of story-telling, however laboured by a somewhat unconvincing fictionalisation of the matter at hand.

A touchy environmental issue has been presented in one of Gus van Sant's most down-to-earth and standard features to date, where the devilish fracking industry is the focus of a well-meant, if mishitting, effort. Steve Butler (Matt Damon) works as a consultant for the gas industry, roaming the countryside purchasing up land destined for exploitation by deep drilling. Together with the rigid Sue Thompson (Frances McDormand) they form an effective team, effortlessly buying up land in the idyllic small towns, strained by lack of cash, thus falling into financial despair. The gas shelves offer an option for easy cash - leasing the land and energy resources hidden deep in its bowels, thus bringing promise for better days. When Butler and Thompson are sent by their employer Global Crosspower Solutions to a cash-starved Pennsylvania farming community, the land seems ripe for the picking. Nonetheless the dark side of the industry slowly filters through, when the ecological soundness of the natural gas fracking process is brought into question by Frank Yates (Hal Holbrook), a physics professor emeritus teaching at a local school. Troubles slowly start arising, coupled by the arrival of environmentalist Dustin Noble (John Krasinski), who initiates a grassroots campaign against fracking. The two soon start to compete for victory, not only amongst the community, but also with regards to the heart of small-town beauty Alice (Rosemarie DeWitt).

Given the continuing discussion regarding the business, who on the outside wants to appear clean, whilst simultaneously sweeping all burning faucets, poisoned wells and dead livestock under the social radar, "Promised Land" could have been an important voice in the discussion, at least forcibly bringing the issue into the public eye. However the restraint shown in presenting the controversies behind fracking seem to be a missed opportunity, as the movie slowly drifts away from the core issue towards an order of melodrama and bickering between two sides of the debate. Not much however is done to present the controversy itself: Is fracking really a threat? Or are we just supposed to decide by ourselves through google after watching the movie? Naturally "Promised Land" isn't a documentary, hence the factual layer is nowhere as dedicated and impacting as in the groundbreaking "Gas Land". Nonetheless the lack of contextualisation is evident, offering too much space for any side to decide for themselves. Much focus is offered towards the question of whether the impoverished farm-owners should just take the money and renege their environmental fears. When someone's livelihood is at stake is it moral and right to ignore ecology? Somewhere amongst this nuanced approach to the issue, the question lingers: is there any reason to really fret regarding fracking or is this whole discussion just pointless? A well researched scene featuring Hal Halbrook would have done the movie a world of good...

Thankfully the script by Damon and Kosinski refrains from painting a cosy picture of right or wrong, presenting the local town life as a simple debate amongst immediate gratification and the perspectives of losses in the future. However the somewhat idyllic presentation of small town life causes the poignancy level of the question to drop, a far cry from the doom and gloom on offer in "Gas Land", the desperation lingering in people's eyes. Damon himself is well cast as a small-town boy fully dedicated to the company and the riches it offers, as a positive alternative. A far cry from a dastardly cooperative mug, his much more level-headed character is a welcome change, which avoids demonizing the people behind the problems. This occasionally helps to strengthen the rivalry for people's hearts, showing that the issue isn't an easy issue to resolve as either side would want to portray. Nonetheless this ambiguity also works against the movie, offering many points of view, but failing to truly show an in-depth focus on any, instead swaggering away into standard dramatic contrivances and a somewhat unwelcome twist at the end, which unravels much of the prior arguments, instead leaving focus on issues, which shouldn't really be the point of the movie. To some extent the characters and their tribulations override the integral story, somewhat collapsing the concept.